Latch mechanism



May 2, 1961 J. R. voN STERNBERG LATCH MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 24, 1958 May 2, 1961 J. R. voN STERNBERG 2,982,574

LATCH MECHANISM Filed Oct. 24, 1958 2 Sheets-Shea?I 2 INVENTOR. qi JULE R. vonsTERNBERG ATTORNEY i United States Patent O LATCH MECHANISM g Jule R. von Sternberg, 44 Hilton Ave., Garden City, N.Y. Fried oct. 24, 195s, ser. No. 769,378

6 Claims. (Cl. 292-37) This invention relates to latch mechanisms for doors and the like and more particularly is concerned with a mechanism which permits a door to be opened and closed in either direction with respect to the door jamb and which provides satisfactory latching means as the door is closed from either side of the jamb.

Heretofore most doors in ho-mes, oflices, schools and factories, both exterior doors and interio-r doors, such as closet doors, doors between rooms or cellar doors, opened in only one direction. This type of door is closed by moving it toward the door jamb and a spring latch in the door which seats in a recess provided in the strike plate in the jamb and secures the door. The closed door is held against movement in one direction by the door stop which may be a strip' of wood set in the jamb and the door is held against movement in the other direction by the spring latch engaging the recess in the strike plate.

Because it opens in only one direction, this type of door frequently complicates the arrangement of furniture, blocks windows or other doors when opened. Also such doors make egress from a particularly small area (such as a lavatory) difficult. When used in public places where there is considerable traffic, the one-direction door may cause a continuo-us and dangerous backing up of traic. This is particularly true of the classroom, where traflic may .be all in one direction at one time and all in the opposite direction at another time. vThe same situation exists in a large office ,or industrial plant where morning traffic is in and afternoon traic is out. In all such cases, a one-directional ,door rmay be :a serious obstruction in an emergency, such as in a fire, if many people try to leave through a door which must be opened towards them first.

`Many diiliculties are inherent in the use of the onedirectional door. By intent, every door is an obstruction .to circulation through the doorway. The opening of the door, i.e. removal of the obstruction, should be as eilicient as possible and with a minimum of dislocation of plan and circulation. In the home, the one-directional door frequently hampers the fullestuse ofmany rooms. At the present time, particularly, with room sizes pared down to the minimum oneadirectional doors are a liability, for this type of door must swing in a radius of about three feet thus seriously restricting the use of theiioor area of the room into which the door opens. Presently available swinging or double-acting doors are not useful in solving the rabove situation for they do not provide positive latching. They alsolhave an inherent-danger in them from the fact that the spring hinges that are used withlsuch doors causes the doors, Vwhen-.released at one side of the jamb, toswing closed Iwith considerable force and then kswing'through the jamb in a wide arc on the other side Tof the jamb. This can produce a dangerous situation for pier-sons following through the doorway when the person tin. the lead allows the door to swingback freely. Another y, difficulty with the use of this type of swinging door is that lit willfnot stand open but .will swingclosed unless awedge .Qn specialdoonbrake isemployedto hold 4,the door.

`It is the object of this invention to provide a door latch which will permit a door to be opened in either direction andV automatically latched as theV door is closed from either direction.

It will be understood that a further object of the invention is to provide a latch arrangement to permit the door to be left open on either side of the door jamb and to be swung closed and latched 'from either side of the door opening.

A still further object-of this invention is to provide a latch means for a door ,which will permit greater flexibility in the arrangement of rooms and of furniture in rooms with respect vto doors because doors can be opened in either direction and latched as theyclo'se from either in the jamb of the doorway, spring means are provided 1 on each of said latch tongues to bias the tongues outward fromrthe door, the `strike plate :dening latch tongue rec e'ivirig `recesses in which .the latch tongues are received after initially being depressed to pass over the strike plate, surfaces being provided on the latch tongues and thesaid recesses in the strike plate for preventing movement of the door in either direction when said latch tongues have been biased into the recesses in the strike plate, said latch tongues being movable, in unison, out of the recesses inth'ehstrikeplate by means of standard door .knobs on eitherrsdle ofthe door.

For a more complete vdescription of the invention, reference is made to the drawings wherein:

Fig. l is a perspective Vview partly in section ofa lock set or latchfmechani'sm embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a perspective rearview ofthe strike plate used in cooperation with the latch means of Fig'. l. Y

Fig. 2a is a rear elevation of the latch receiving open- Ving in the strike plate of Fig. 2l

Fig. 3 is an end view ofthe latch means as viewed along the line 3-3 inFig. l. v Y

Fig. y4 is a ylongitudinal sectional view of the device as viewed alongthe line in Fig. ,3 with the latching tongues or elements in theireXtended position.

Fig. 5 is alsora longitudinal lsectional view taken along the line VVV4-4 in 3 with the latching elements retracted.

Fig. U6 4is a topview of the device with parts cut away showing the latchin'g elements inr eXtended position.

The embodiment of ltheinventon shown inthe drawings is a lockset comprisng a vcylindrical housing 10y which is provided with a flange 1i. Withinthe housing, latch elements or latch tongues-12a and 12b are slideably mounted, having connecting rods 13a and 135 and guide platesrlla and vlllb. A disc y15 is held in position in the cylindrical housing 10 by suitable Vmeans such as shown at 16 wherein portions of the housing have been cut yand bent inwardly. to provide holding means for the disc 15.

Springsvl' and 17b are coiledaroundbars 13a and ,13b

respectively, so asrtourge the latch tongues ,12a and 12b outwardly into theposition shown in Figs. 1, 4 and 6by the springs acting against `the disc 15tand the rear sides Lof the latch tongues 12aand,12b.f

A door knob spindle IVSteXten'ds through openings 1,9 provided inthesidesoftheghousing 10, as shown in Fig. 16.

TheSenteursaerial with a;- hiba .and a amata,

Y atented May 1,961

means 21 inside the housing 10,. The guide plates 14a and 14b define slots 22a and 22b which are sufficiently large to accommodate the hub 20 of the spindle 18 in both the extended position of the latches shown in' Figs. l, 4 and 6 and also the retracted position shown in Fig. 5.

In the form of the device shown, the latches are independently slidable with respect to each other, each being slidably supported for slid ng motion axially of said cylindrical housing. The inside of housing 10, the openings in the disc 15, the guide plates 14a, 14b and the sliding contact with each other serve to guide the latch tongues 12a and 12b.

The guide plates 14a and 14b are respectively provided with pins 23a and 23b. As is best shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the cam means 21 is adapted to contact the pins 23a and 23b as the door knob spindle 18 is rotated in either direction as indicated bythe arrows in Figs. '4 and 5. When the spindle 18 is rotated in a counter-clockwise direction the surface 25 of the cam means 21 engages the two upper pins 23a and 23b as shown in Fig. 5 and causes the latch tongues 12a and 12b to be withdrawn from the position shown in Fig. 4 to the position shown in Fig. 5. When the spindle 18 is rotated in a clockwise direction, the lower camming surface 26 of the cam 21 engages the lower pins 23a and 23b and similarly causes the latches 12a and 12b to be retracted from the position shown in 4 to the position shown in Fig. 3. By such arrangement, the latches 12a and 12b may be simultaneously withdrawn by rotation of door knobs, such as 30, see Fig. 1, on either side of the door in counter-clockwise or clockwise directions. In this respect the latch mechanisms are similar to known door mechanisms.

It will be noted that the surfaces 25 and 26 may be suitably shaped or the pins 23a and 23b may be suitably positioned with respect to the surfaces 25 and 26 so that the latches 12a and 12b move uniformly inward in unison. It has been found, for example, that if the cam surfaces are angularly shaped as shown generally in Figs. 4 and 5 that the pins 23a and 23b are moved uniform distances and therefore retract the latch tongues 12a and 12b equally from the position Fig. 4 to the position Fig. 5.

It will be understood that similar well-known expedients can be substituted for the cam means and pins in the device. For example, the pin means may be molded as shoulders on the guide plates 14a and 14b.

In order to mount the lock-set of this invention, a hole is drilled in the edge of the' door at a suitable height, with respect to convenient operation of the door knobs, to receive the cylinder 10. The hole drilled in the door should be sufficiently deep to receive the cylinder to the depth of the fiange 11 which provides a suitable stop to prevent the cylinder from being set too deep.

A second hole sufiiciently large to receive the spindle 18 should be drilled through the door at the depth of the `openings 19 in the cylinder 10. .The spindle is thereafter positioned through the hub 20 and door knobs such as door knob 30 may be fixed with suitable means such as set screw 31 to the spindle 18.

i press the tongue into the cylinder in the door as they move across the strike plate 32 toward the openings 35. The strike plate may also be provided with holes 36 to receive screws or other fastening means whereby the strike plate may be fastened to the door jamb. In Fig.

, 2 the surface of the strike plate which is seen in the perspective view is the face of the Strike plate which will be against the door jamb. The arrangement of the strike 'plate in this manner is to show therelationshipof the strike plate with respect to the perspective view of the lock set of this invention illustrated in Fig. 1. As a door, containing a lock set such as illustrated in Fig. l, is closed in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 2 adjacent the face 34 of the strike plate 32, the surface 34 of the strike plate 32 engages the camming surface 40a of the latch tongue 12a and the larger camming surface 41b of the latch tongue 12b. This action causes the latch tongues 12a and 12b to be pressed inwardly into the cylinder 10 against the pressure of the springs 17a and 17b, the latch tongues 12a and 12b and their related parts moving from the position shown in Figs. 1, 4 and 6 to the retracted position shown in Fig. 5. (If the door was closed without turning the door knob 30 the spindle 18 would not have been actuated to the position shown in Fig. 5 but would remain in its normal position shown in Fig. 4.) As the door is closed further, the latch means 12a remains in the retracted position until the latch tongues reach the position in which they are received in the recesses 35 defined in the strike plate, the openings or recesses 35 having a configuration to receive both latch tongues and to permit them to return to their extended position, i.e., the position shown in Figs. 1, 4 and 6.

When the latches have entered the openings 35 provided in the strike plate 32, the door will be firmly held against swinging in either direction through the jamb by the fact that the surface 42a of the latch 12a engages the shoulder 43a in the opening 35 and the face 42b engages the shoulder 43b of the opening 35.

In order to open the door, it is therefore necessary to turn the door knob on either side of the dooraud thereafter the door may be opened in either direction with the latches 12a and 12b withdrawn.

It will be appreciated that a door having the latching means of this invention should be so hinged as to permit the door to swing in both directions with respect to the door jamb. Although doors which open in only one direction require a door stop to prevent the door from swinging open in the other direction, it is not necessary to use such door stop means with the lock set of this invention thereby freeing the doorway of this obstacle. The door latch mechanism of this invention serves to prevent the door from swinging past the jamb in either direction by the springs 17a and 17b biasing the latch tongues 12a and 12b into the openings 35 in the latch plate after the latch has been biased inwardly to permit it to pass over the first part of the strike plate.

It will be understood that when the door is closed from the left side, as viewed in Fig. 2, that the surfaces 41a and 40b of the latch tongues 12a and 12b, respectively, engage the camming surface 33 of the strike plate 32 causing the latches to retract as they pass over the strike plate until they latch in the openings 35 in said strike plate.

Fig. 2a shows the strike plate as viewed in rear elevation. It will be noted that the faces 43a and 43b are not in alignment whereas the faces 42a and 42b of the latch tongues 12a and 12b are substantially in alignment. It has been found desirable to leave a little leeway between the faces 43a and 43b to permit slight movement of the door.

It will be noted that as the door vis closed from right to left as viewed in Figs. 2 and 2a, and the surface 40a of the latch tongue 12a is depressed inwardly by the surface 34 of the strike plate 32, the latch tongue 12a is released and starts its movement into the opening 35, the edge 45a passes the point 46a and becomes fully extended into the opening as the latching means passes the center line 47 of the opening 35, as best shown in Fig. 2a. The latch tongue 12b which was pressed inwardly into cylinder 10 by the face 41b engaging the strike plate camming surface 34 is released as the edge 45b of the latch. tongue 12b passes the shoulder 43b on its movement across the strike-plate 32 from right to left The at surface 42a serves to stop theright to left movement of the door against the shoulder 43a of the strike plate. Any tendency for the door to rebound is prevented by the surface 42b of the latch tongue striking against the shoulder 43b. It has been found that the disclosed arrangement operates very satisfactorily to prevent the door from passing the strike plate without latching and from rebounding after latching of one of the latches in one direction.

It will be appreciated that when the door is closed as from left to right in Figs. 2 and 2a that the latch tongues 12a and 12b, which have been depressed respectively by means of the surface 41a and the surface 40h contacting the strike plate surface 33, enter the openings 35 in the following manner. 45h of the lower latch tongue 12b passes the point 46h, the latch 12b gradually is received into the lower opening 35 and is fully extended into the opening as the point 45b passes the center line 47 moving from left to right. Thereafter the flat face 421) of the latch tongue 12b engages the shoulder 43b of the strike plate 32 and stops the movement of the door from left to right. The latch tongue 12a moves to the fully extended position after the point 45a of the latch tongue 12a has passed the shoulder 43a as the mechanism moves from left to right as viewed in Figs. 2 and 2a. Therefore,ranyl tendency for the door to rebound toward the left after the surfaces 42h and 43h meet will be prevented by the flat face 42a engaging the shoulder 43a of the strike plate.

From the foregoing, it will be noted that the latch means and the strike plate are so designed that the latch with the vertical face towards the strike plate, when the door is closing, will engage the shoulder of the recess in the strike plate rst, thus stopping `the door and preventing its traveling through the opening into the adjoining room or space. Almost immediately, the second latch (that with the larger cam surface facing the strike plate) will engage the shoulder of 'the recess in the plate, eifectually preventing the door from bouncing back into the room. Thus even when the door is swung shut very abruptly, it will neither override the strike plate nor bounce back into the room.

Also, both latches are provided with cam areas on both sides, so that no matter from which side of the opening the door may be shut, the latches will be easily depressed by the action of the cam surfaces on the leading edge of the strike plate.

1t should be understood that while it is presently preferred to arrange and shape the parts so that they may be iitted into a cylindrical housing such as that illustrated, that the lock set may also be arranged and shaped with the latch means in the usual oblong shapes or other shapes which may appear to be desirable.

The lock set illustrated in the drawings embodying the invention, which is contained in acylindrical body, may be readily and easily installed in a door. For example, in one form of the invention the lock set was made in a cylindrical housing of 'Ms inch diameter for use in residential interior doo-rs. For installation it was only necessary to drill one 7A; inch hole from the edge of the door inward and then drill a second hole in the face of the door for the door knob shaft. Although for convenience the upper and lower latch tongues and their related parts are shown in close proximity, they may be spaced apart and the openings or recesses in the strike plate may be spaced apart to coact with said tongues.

4It has been found that the latch means of this invention is economical to manufacture and overcomes so many difficulties inherent in the arrangement and operation of doors in various installations, that they can be used throughout residences, oices and factories.

With the lock set of this invention it is possible for a person approaching the door to open it and push the door through the jamb regardless of which direction he is approaching the doorway and also to close the door After the point ,6 from either side and be `assured that it will latch ,as it passes toward the jamb and will not swing through the doorway in a dangerous manner as is the case with the swinging doors which are presently used.

It will be appreciated that doors which are provided with the latch mechanism of this invention may be doubleacting and achieve the objects set forth above and that this invention overcomes the problem of the conventional doors with which it is necessary to back up to pull a door open in orderto move through the doorway. Also,

that the invention overcomes the latent dangers of the double-acting swinging door by providing automatic latching in either direction. Further, this invention provides the flexibility as to ventilation and furniture room arrangement by permitting the door to be positioned on either side of the door jam as desired. The usefulness of such a door latching mechanism will also be apprecilated as well as in specific installations such as the top of the cellar stairs and in lavatories and other similar areas, where the space provided into which the door must be opened barely provides sutl'icient space for the user y and the door.

It will be understood that the device described and shown in the drawings is illustrative, and, in accordance with the patent statutes, shows a presently preferred form of the invention, but that various changes and rearrangements of parts may be made within the design and intent of the invention. The scope of the invention is defined by the claims as follows. Y

What is claimed is: Y

l. A latch mechanism for Vautomatically latching a double-acting door in a door jamb, comprising two independent/ly operable latch tongues which are mounted in and which are retractable into the door upon contact with a :strike plate positioned in the jamb of the doorway to engage the latch tongues, spring means provided ywith each of said latch tongues to bias `the tongues outward being offsetlaterally in the direction of the door move` ment permitting the seating of one tongue before the other, and door knob means connected to said latch tongues for moving the latch tongues in unison out of the recesses in the strike plate.

2. A latch apparatus for automatically latching a double-acting door in a door jamb, comprising a latch-` ing mechanism mounted in the edge of the door and a strike plate mounted in the jamb, said latching mechanism including two separately operable latch tongues, each tongue having spring means for biasing it out of the edge of the door, cam surfaces on each latch tongue for engaging the strike plate from either side for biasing the tongue into the edge of the door, said strike plate including latch-tongue engaging surfaces on either side of the preventing movement of the door in that direction, and abutment means formed on the other latch tongue for abutting the receiving means in the other direction fork y preventing movement of the door in that direction, said l receiving means in the strike plate being formed to permit successive separate seating and abutment of the abutting means by the separate tongues as the door moves toward the jamb in either direction.

3. A latch apparatus for automatically latchingakvk double-acting door in a door jam, comprising a latch.-

ing mechanism mounted in the edge of the door and a strike plate mounted in the jam, said latching mechanism including a pair of latch tongues, spring means for urging the tongues out of the edge of the door, cam surfaces on the tongues for engaging the strike plate and camming vthe tongues into the edge of the door, latch-tongue receiving means defined in said strike plate and cooperating abutment means on the latch tongues for preventing movement of the door in either direction, said latchtongue receiving means being formed to receive the first and then the second tongue as the door closes in one direction and to receive the second and then the rst tongue as it closes in the other direction.

4. In a latch apparatus for automatically latching a double-acting door Ain a door jamb, comprising a latching mechanism mounted in the edge of the door and a strike plate mounted in said jam, said latching mechanism having a latch means, means for urging the latch means out of the edge of the door toward said strike plate, interacting means on said latch means and on the strike plate for urging the latch means into said door when said door is swung toward said jamb in either direction, and latch receiving means defined in the strike plate for receiving the latch means and coacting abutment means on Asaid latch means and said strike plate for preventing the door from swinging through the jamb in one direction and a second latch means, means for urging said second latch means out of the door toward the strike plate, interacting means on said second latch means and on the strike plate for urging the second latch means into said door when said door is swung toward said jamb in either direction, and latch receiving means defined in the strike plate for receiving the second latch means and other coacting abutment means on the second latch means and the strike plate for preventing the door from swinging through the jamb in the other direction, the latch receiving and abutment means in the strike plate being disposed along the path of travel of the two latch means so that one latch means will seat and abut before the other in either direction, and means for retracting the two latch means into the edge of the door in unison to open the door.

5. A latch mechanism for automatically latching a double-acting door in a door jamb comprising a latching device mounted in the edge of the door and a strike plate mounted in the jamb, said latching device including a cylindrical housing, two separately operable latch tongues mounted in said housing in the edge of the door, for separate slidable motion into and out of the edge of the door, each of said latch tongues having means for biasing the latch tongue out of the edge of the door, the strike plate having latch-tongue engaging surfaces on either side of the center of the jamb and having latchtongue receiving means between said latch-tongue engaging surfaces, cam surfaces on each latch tongue for engaging the latch tongue surfaces of the strike plate from either side of the tongue for biasing the tongue into the edge of said door, means formed on one latch tongue for abutting the latch-tongue receiving means of the strike plate in one direction for preventing movement of the door in said one direction, and means on the other latch tongue for abutting the receiving means in the other direction for preventing movement of the door in the other direction. V

6. The latch mechanism of claim 5 wherein the latchtongue receiving means of the strike plate is shaped whereby the abutting means on the one latch tongue engages said latch-tongue receiving means before the abutting means on the second latch tongue engages the said receiving means when the door is closed in said one direction, and the abutting means on the second latch tongue engages the said receiving means before the one latch tongue abutting means when the door is closed in the other direction.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 491,285 Herrmann Feb. 7, 1893 586,675 Taylor July 20, 1897 696,176 Howard Mar. 25, 1902 2,357,551 Schlage Sept. 5, 1944 2,507,860 Lickteig May 16, 1950 

